Sky Sports and former Blue Peter presenter Simon Thomas and his wife Gemma have launched a charitable campaign to provide young refugees with essential supplies and small gifts this winter.

As thousands of child refugees brave the cold and crowded conditions in Lebsos, the couple from Caversham are busy collecting donated supplies which they will soon send out to the displaced people.

Mr and Mrs Thomas asked families with pupils at Sonning Church of England Primary School, the school their son attends, to donate warm clothes, blankets and waterproofs and asked the pupils to put together Happy Backpacks.

The small backpacks are filled with winter clothing, toiletries and small gifts such as balls, bubbles, colouring books, soft toys, sweets and pens.

The bags are designed to be mobile as the displaced children are often on the move.

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Refugees in Reading

On Monday, November 23 the donations were gathered and sorted at the school in Liguge Way, Reading, and will soon be shipped out to the Greek island or sold to raise money for Refugee Aid.

The charitable collection is part of a wider project which was organised by Refugee Aid.

Mrs Thomas said: "It (the collection) was really good and we got absolutely tonnes of stuff.

"The morning went really well and lots of people gave blankets, warm clothing and other ski gear which will obviously be important during the winter.

"We have a lot of donations which will now be sorted and then shipped out to Lesbos.

"A few of the children came out to help with the sorting today, but their teachers and parents told them all about it last week so over the weekend they all went home and made the backpacks with toys and clothes inside.

"Some of them even wrote little notes and put them in, so when the bags are given to the children in Greece, they can read them. "

"My next project is to try and find a van so we can drive all of the donations to our depot in Wimbledon."

Simon Thomas sorting donations

The couple are in correspondence with a group of surgeons, junior doctors, and GPs who travelled to a refugee camp at Moria in Lesbos on Monday, November 16, to treat refugees and provide them with emergency medical aid.

When the volunteers return, the Caversham-based couple will consult them to find out how they can distribute the supplies effectivley.

"We want to send the shipments out as soon as possible," said Mrs Thomas, "The doctors from refugee aid are coming back next week so we will talk to them and find out how and where is best to distribute the donations, so it gets to the most vulnerable people.

She added: "I think this is something that has really struck a chord with people in the run up to Christmas, there are so many children writing these really long Christmas lists and then you see these children on TV with nothing who are out in the cold, so this is a nice way to do something to help.

"I just think that we have to do something as this is a humanitarian crisis."

To find out how you can help refugees travelling through Europe visit Refugee Aid's website.